But lets also recognise that this was an attempt to get people to go to somewhere other than here to discuss rugby. As an Editor of the site we need the hits here so are hardly likely to encourage heading off somehwere else because a newcomer posted a link.

A little turkeys and christmas if you get my drift. It would not have been unreasonable to just delete the thread.

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Thank you for your knowledgeable input to the thread Welby.
When you understand how these boards work your sarcastic (and quarterly) posts will be taken seriously.

Kindly be aware that this is not an "open site" it is a moderated site which is a "not for profit" plc, with profits going to charity. Those profits are generated by traffic on this site, not by sending our posters to other sites.

Its a bit like sky bouncing ads on the ITV network without permission and unannounced.

More than happy to do that everyone. We aren't profit based either, we are just a bunch of students who volunteer and who are trying to get our work noticed plus promote debate. I hope no one got too annoyed!

Girwin90, I am afraid our rulers are sometime extremely self righteous (and up themselves). That reduces hits, so they have to be more protective. I sometimes think that if they were pub landlords no-one would be allowed to talk at the bar unless they had bought a pint within the previous 32minutes!!

As S4L knows I value his contributions. He sometimes takes flak and often in my view that flak is over the top.

You argue for a more laissez faire approach to such as the above posting, and I have tried to explain why I responded as I did, and then rather contradict this by asking for more intervention.

I know some on here are curmudgeonly but then I also go to a football site and that is really caustic to what anyone on here posts and it is allegedly one of the most moderate out there.

I try and welcome new rugby supporters who come here to join in. I don't welcome those who come to promote something else without talking to us. We do for instance promote Hambo's stuff etc and we gladly do it.

If you ever get involved in something like this you will discover how difficult a balancing act it is. We make mistakes - of course we do - but nobody (apart form John Eales) is perfect.

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

a two way street often works best in these cases, agreeing to put links on COYS to talkingrugbyunion as long as they put one on their site to COYS would surely be a win/win. Just thinking out load loike

Ben and I follow each on twitter and have, what I feel, is a bantery but friendly relationship. He gives as good as he gets!
But, i wouldnt hesitate to buy the lad a pint and shake his hand, all rugby aside hes a genuine lad.

Dumps, i know where youre coming from and anyone who is just a lurker might look at the dogs abuse Eif gets and avoid COYSDC like the plague.

It needs to go both ways though. Look at how often Saint Morrissey posts on other boards as aposed to ours. Thats his prerogative. And i speak as a guy who is pretty much persona non gratis on the Bath board, the wasps board, the quins board, the sarries board...

DumplingBecause there are a lot of sites on the internet and I look at many interesting ones. I like to be pointed in the direction of new sites,articles and discussions. COYSDC is not the only fruit!!

Indeed - but neither is it a free advertising facility - the solution lies in what has been suggested above, which we have done before.

Quote:

DumplingGirwin90, I am afraid our rulers are sometime extremely self righteous (and up themselves). That reduces hits, so they have to be more protective. I sometimes think that if they were pub landlords no-one would be allowed to talk at the bar unless they had bought a pint within the previous 32minutes!!

Thanks for your support - surprised you can be bothered to post. In your denigration of the moderators here - and as one who has suggested I don't know what life is about - just think on that on at least half a dozen of the other rugby sites this thread would have been quietly "disappeared" and you would never have had the opportunity to post your piece.

So perhaps we'll do that in future - after all that seems to be what life is about elsewhere

You may think differently but I honestly never meant to come in and cause a ruckus like this, I do it with many forums. Ulster, Scarlets etc hence why I done it here, I accept I should have asked or found out who the moderators were. I didn't think it would upset users this much. I just wanted to share an article a Northampton fan wrote yes it's advertising but as a student who is trying to get his friends article noticed that's all I meant.

So to say "P.S The amount of responses on here is probably better advertising for Girwin90 than he ever expected." I intended to highlight the article but don't worry I won't do it again.

I wouldn't consider myself competition, i'm an Ulster fan myself. I read various websites, the features all on TRU are majorly students getting their experience. I'm sure various students would be willing to write on the COYS forum also.

Tim - I know you do - and it is appreciated - but as Robby notes I'm not too fussed about the flak. At least it's less nasty than the stuff in Tiggsland.

And Robby - same here, of course. One of the great things about rugby is that it's just fun and interesting to talk about, especially without anti-whoever vitriol. And I've made the same deal with my old arch-enemy Mr Benson/Johnson so I can't be as bad as you think...

As for the article - a quick contribution. I've been involved with TRU on and off for quite a while - Garry is a great bloke just doing cos he loves the game. Like the rest of us. It's a growing site but still quite low-key so I can totally see why he'd want to try and publicise a Saints-related article on this board!!

It seems - from my position of relative ignorance - he got pretty harshly done by on this thread. It's never a problem to post match reports from established news sites, I don't think, and he could have posted that link on any other board without such reprisals...

Anyway - I don't wanna sound like I'm telling you how to run the site - David's told me off for that one already - so I will retract my oar and assume there's a perfectly good explanation...

If you're using a pub analogy then Pub A has been in existence for good part of 15 years, Landlord A builds up trade over that period. Landlord B eyes that trade, buys premises next door, opens Pub B. First night he's open he walks into Pub A and says hey fellas come and drink at my place but bring those glasses you're drinking out of i've not got any yet. Of course drinkers can drink where they want but don't expect Landlord A to be jumping through hoops about it.

Girwin will have picked up the flack from Tim and others for a number of posters from sites who are selling stuff, trying to use us to bolster a site about which we know nothing or generally feel that this site is a Parish notice board. We are run a little differently from some of the other SN sites, and have a pretty firm line about this.

if sites approach us in the manner outlined by Mr Flatt, it usually results in a good relationship and a win/win. Unfortunately without benefit of an introduction it is a bit difficult to recommend links. Let us discuss this off line (a much better place to do so). Girwin, why not drop either Tim or me a PM so we know something more about your site and its objectives.

......or a group of friends go to pub A, have a good time, and then someone says on the way home I'm going to drop in to Pub B for a drink and his friends all say "I've never been there, I'll give it a try this time".

DumplingGirwin90, I am afraid our rulers are sometime extremely self righteous (and up themselves). That reduces hits, so they have to be more protective. I sometimes think that if they were pub landlords no-one would be allowed to talk at the bar unless they had bought a pint within the previous 32minutes!!

I really didn't want to have to contribute to this unedifying thread but have felt compelled to comment.

The Eds, St M, Stockers, Tim and I spend countless hours maintaining this website so that Saints supporters can have their say on all matters at FG. Before us, Chris and Rich did the same. Yes, we take the brickbats where they are warranted (because we do not always get it right) but this reaction is so over the top that I wonder why we bother.

Dumps, do you want to manage a website that has over one million hits every month? Do you want to read every single message that is posted on this site? Do you want to ensure that we have a match preview and report for every Saints game so that we fulfill our obligation to SportNetwork? Or do you just want to dip in and out of COYSDC (as most people do) to get your daily fix?

If the other Eds get a little protective from time-to-time, it's because they care.

And welcome, girwin. I hope that we can come to an arrangement where content from your site and ours can be shared.

Girwin, you should be asking your question on the England board. This season, his contribution at the Saints has been pretty non-existant when he has played so there is little difference when he doesn't. This season its more an issue as to whether he deserves his place within the England set up. Next season he's Saracens' problem.

Thank you moderators, for all the time and effort that goes In to maintaining this site. It seems a tireless and thankless task. Every week we see
Phil asking for previews and match reports and the fact that he has to keep asking for them to just keep our site interesting must become boring for him. But you never see a match without a preview or report or motm poll from Tim. I appreciate the effort that goes into this site and if I had more time myself I would help out more.

Noun:
1.A person who approves of and encourages someone or something (typically a public figure, a movement or party, or a policy).
2.A person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular sports team.

Rugby is a community why are we trying to turn people away unless we are becoming more like football?

If the mods are worried about losing users why not improve the website to keep us? Have to agree with the above, some peoples opinions are only deemed right or even acknowledged if they come from the right people.

Unfortunately we are not in charge of the software. Sorry people obviously feel we are not welcoming. I will take that on board - but likewise we do not want companies and others using this board as just an advertising opportunity either.

We live and learn.

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Apopogies if I was not clear - I fully understand the need to encourage users to stay on the site but it is the tone of the warnings and unfriendliness that got to me. It is not as if it was a blatant "buy this" advert.

True Dumpling - it wasn't but it would actually have been easy to have posted something which didn't immediately make me pick up on it. I mean that many of our threads are to debate something found elsewhere and here it was right in that it was a link not a copy and paste.

Any how I will try to not snap so easily in future.

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

I think there are a lot of perceived slights when somebody's point of view is ignored. (some would say that is an acknowledgment in its own right). I don't recognise "deemed right" or "deemed wrong" either. If someone doesn't agree with you that is what debate is about.

Please feel free to PM the editors with any views about how the site can be improved.

St Marlowe, I'm sorry you've taken my comment as sarcastic, however your response does kind of prove my point re. welcoming...
If the purpose of this site is to generate high levels of traffic then you need to be aware of how SEO works. Having bi-directional links with other sites is one of the key ways of increasing your ranking with Google. Google = traffic, simples

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